You don’t have to look far these days to find hundreds of plans to help you lose weight. For so many, weight loss is the hurdle to conquer, and believe that if they can just do that, things will be easy. Well, not to burst any bubbles, but frequently the weight loss phase turns out to be the easy part…it’s the maintenance that gets most people! When we know it’s a limited period of time, we can stick to some crazy things to achieve a certain result, but then what? Maintaining weight loss is FOREVER!!! I know how hard this can be from personal experience. And research indicates that ‘yo-yo’ dieting may actually be worse for your health than never losing weight to begin with. But take heart! There are many ways to make your healthy lifestyle a habit, and keep your motivation going, long after the pounds have been shed. Below are my top 3 tips for maintaining weight loss long term:

Never stop gathering new information. Take on new challenges: a new yoga class, a Warrior Dash, a race. This will keep your mind and body engaged. For me, reading fitness magazines, getting new videos, and eventually becoming a certified personal trainer, were (and are) things that really keep me motivated. Having new ideas and mixing it up keeps it interesting. I enjoy exercise because I make sure it never gets boring. I also like to take it from a scientific perspective, why things work and how do they affect my body.

Don’t discount nutrition. This is probably the number one reason people gain back the weight they’ve lost. The fitter I got, the more I had to adapt my nutrition to fuel my body and handle the workouts that I wanted to do. Healthy eating is a lifelong commitment. You may think that you can ‘eat healthy’ until you lose a certain amount of weight, but the reality is nutrition goes hand in hand with exercise. It fuels your body and will keep you looking and feeling amazing, having the energy you need to crush your workouts, and take on your busy days.

Share your story. You don’t need to be obnoxious about it, but if you’ve managed to shed weight and begin living a healthy lifestyle, people will notice! Share what you’ve done. Inspiring other people has a circular affect – you’ll find your motivation soaring!